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Young Adults

One of America's largest distributors of books to schools has stopped listing Bratz books, after a campaign from parents saying the characters contributed to the sexualisation of children. The Bratz books are a spin-off from MGA Entertainment's line of Bratz dolls, which variously wear miniskirts, fishnet stockings, bikinis and feather boas.

Bernstein and about 20 of his friends and family members donated about 3,000 books to the Hispanic Resource Center. The donation is a part of Bernstein's Eagle Scout Service project, which will distribute almost 10,000 cast-off books from the Mamaroneck library to various organizations throughout the community. Bernstein is a volunteer at the library.

Another day, another outraged parent, this time She's in Oklahoma. "It’s, it's awful... It's... I can't believe... I don't talk about that in front of my child -- and I don't expect it to be in a book that she can get from the library. I mean it's just... I'm speechless."

The book -- "TTFN"(-ta ta for now, sequel to "TTYL"- talk to you later) -- came from the Marietta Middle School library, and what's more -- it was on an advanced reading list worth eight points to any student who checks it out and reads it.

As gaming in libraries becomes more of a commonplace and less of a radical notion, librarians will be forced to deal with the same kinds of issues they encountered when libraries began to carry movies.

When libraries started stocking VHS cassettes, there was a huge debate over R rated movies. Should libraries stock such films even though many R rated movies garner Academy Awards and other film acclaims? Now the rating issue isn't over R, it's M for Mature. Should a library carry a game or not simply based off its rating? Grand Theft Auto IV is rated M but received accolades throughout the entire gaming world. How reliable is the rating? Do we check it out to minors? And the list goes on.

We've had our share of trouble with game ratings here in the States, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that the good folks over in the United Kingdom are slogging through similar problems.

"because"... says Florida librarian David Serchay, whose trip to Comic-con was supported by funding from the Broward County Friends of the Library,
"... the numbers are clear: adding comic-book titles to the shelves puts circulation stats through the roof."

Consider yourself a geek? You'd be in good company at San Diego's thirty-ninth annual Comic-Con(vention), which opened yesterday. It started as a comic book conference way back when, but has since expanded into a multitude of entertainment formats.

David Mazor started his "Reader to Reader" program by trying to determine which town in which state was the poorest; then he called up the school librarian there and offered free books. This was eight years ago, and according to the Christian Science Monitor, the program based on the campus of Amherst College is still going strong and benefiting thousands of students across the U.S.

Since 2002, there has been a 15 percent increase in circulation and a 40 percent increase in visits, so reports the Conshocton Tribune(Central Ohio).

Young adult librarian RoseMary Honnold explains: "That grew out of a meeting I had with a tech club that I specifically put together to see what teens would be interested in. They asked for free Internet time and we talked about gaming. We acquired funds from various sources and add equipment as we go." Currently the library has a Nintendo Wii, a Playstation 2, the game Rock Band for the PS2, ten laptops and laptop games. Games can be projected on a movie screen through the use of a projector.

"I just come down to have fun. I check my MySpace, I play Rock Band, I hang out with my friends," said Justine Givens, 16. "It's a great place for teens to hang out."